Asheville Market Insight, July 2025

Hello friends,

As summer 2025 draws to a close, we’ve just passed the one year mark of having notable changes to the real estate industry. Among those changes, any offered agent commission can no longer be displayed or mentioned in the MLS, signed buyer agency agreements must be in place prior to agent and buyer touring any property and, importantly, an emphasis on increased awareness that all compensation is negotiable. I say increased awareness because, while it always has been and always will be negotiable, our contracts are now written in a way that more clearly breaks down the agreed upon commission paid to a listing agent and how, if, and by whom a commission will be paid to a buyer’s agent, also known as cooperative compensation. We now have the option for commissions to the two sides, listing agent and buyer’s agent, to essentially be decoupled. This seems to make sense to most people. A seller decides to pay X to their listing agent and Y to the buyer’s agent and those decisions live independently. For more on the pros and cons of when and how much compensation to offer, if any, and how this has actually been playing out in our market please contact me anytime.

For July's stats, we saw a little more activity overall with most of the major markers continuing to move in favor of buyers. In fact, if we’re going by the adage that “four to six months of supply is a balanced market” then, at 6.2 months, we’ve technically moved into a buyer’s market.

As a seller you may then be thinking to yourself “I’ve been considering moving but I don’t want to sell my home for less, I don’t want to sell in a buyer’s market.” Hang on because depending on your situation, you may actually come out better off. Yes prices continue to inch upward across the broader area on a year over year basis but we are now seeing prices come down on a month to month basis which could be a good thing if you’re looking to buy a property that’s more expensive than your current one. Here’s how.

Say your current home is worth $700,000 and the one you have your eye on is worth $900,000. That’s a 200k difference. If both homes experience a 5% drop in value that would take them to 665k and 855k, respectively, which is a difference of 190k. You save $10,000. And don’t forget, in a buyer's market there will be more homes to choose from, less competition from buyers and more negotiating room.

See you next month with updates from August. Until then, Cheers!